BIRDTOBER 2024

I finally finished the BIRDTOBER bird art challenge!  BIRDTOBER is an art challenge hosted by @kaylafiskbirds in which artists draw a bird from a list of prompts every day in October.

 

After failing to complete the challenge the past two years I was determined to finish this year.  I decided to do very small ink and watercolor sketches this time.  The size and medium helped me from getting bored as it allowed me to do several at a time, quickly and easily, and I actually enjoyed the process of choosing the species, sketching, inking, then painting all 31.

 

 

THIS YEAR'S PROMPTS

1. Hooked bill
2. Forest dweller
3. Ooo shiny!
4. Red
5. Warbler
6. Adorable
7. Backyard bird

8. Corvid crew

9. Marsh

10. Vagrant

11. Flycatcher

12. Nest

13. Grasslands/prairie

14. Swifts and swallows

15. One word name

16. Eyering

17. Fruit-eater

18. Long-distance migrant

19. Starts with the letter B

20. Elegant

21. Introduced species

22. Beach-bum

23. Grouse/quail

24. Common

25. Precocial

26. Conservation success story

27. Flock

28. Nocturnal

29. Water-lover

30. Secretive

31. Black-and-orange

BIRDTOBER 2023 artwork

Here are the rest of my drawings, paintings, and sketches for this year's BIRDTOBER art challenge.  This year, like last year, I couldn't complete the challenge, but I am glad it gave me some motivation to draw more.

 

1. Spark bird: Eastern Phoebe

Ink and colored pencils

 

2. Duck, duck, or goose: Snow Goose

Watercolor 

3. Long-legged: Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs

Graphite pencil, watercolor, and acrylic paint pen

4. Backyard bird: Tufted Titmouse

Ink

 

 

7. Wren: Marsh Wren

Ink, watercolor, and graphite pencil

9. Yumm bugs! (Insectivore): Common Nighthawks

Acrylics

 

10. Courtship: Black-capped Chickadees

Ink and colored pencils

BIRDTOBER 2023 - Day 8

The prompt for day 8 of BIRDTOBER was "Last bird you saw."  The last birds I saw on the 8th were my chickens when I locked them in the coop for the night. 😁 So I drew this portrait of one of my Light Brahma hens in colored pencils on toned paper.

BIRDTOBER 2023 - Day 6

 BIRDTOBER has begun!  BIRDTOBER is an art challenge hosted by @kaylafiskbirds in which artists draw a bird from a list of prompts every day in October.

 This is my painting for day 6.  The prompt was "camouflage" and I chose to paint a Ruffed Grouse in acrylics.  Ruffed Grouse always seem to see you before you see them!

BIRDTOBER Art Challenge - Week 2

Two weeks into BIRDTOBER and I am already struggling to keep up!  I feel like the quality of my drawings suffered this week due to a lack of motivation, but at least I got it done! 

THIS WEEK'S PROMPTS
8. Mimic
9. Yellow
10. Baby Bird
11. Ocean
12. Unique Beak
13. Forest
14. Free Choice

BIRDTOBER Art Challenge - Week 1

 This month I am taking on the BIRDTOBER challenge!  BIRDTOBER is an art challenge hosted by @kaylafiskbirds in which artists draw a bird from a list of prompts every day in October.

I am working in mixed media for this challenge, specifically watercolors with colored pencils, and most of the bird species I have chosen can be found in my area.  The first week and my first page is done!

 

Thanks to Susan Elliott for the reference photos for the Golden-winged Warbler and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

THIS WEEK'S PROMPTS
1. Last Bird You Saw
2. Blue
3. Woodpecker
4. Swamp/Marsh
5. Locally Threatened
6. Cavity Nester
7. Free Choice

Daily Art Challenge - February: Chickadees!

Yep, I was still creating art (almost) daily during the whole month of February, but I'm afraid that's it for now. Although this challenge made me create more, the quality of my art is reduced when I am pressured to finish a piece by the end of the day. At first I had a lot of fun painting in a looser style and taking very little time to finish a piece, but I started to lose interest after a while. I now feel like I should go back to working on more detailed pieces that I can show and sell. They take a lot more time and patience to create, but the end result gives me a lot more satisfaction than a painterly portrait on a cheap canvas does. I always need to change things up to keep myself interested. It's just the way I am...

Anyway, as you might have noticed, chickadees were on my mind last month; they are the main birds that are coming to my feeders nowadays. First I painted a chickadee in a painterly style, then I painted a silly cartoon of a chickadee wearing pink glasses and sneakers (Why? Just because!), then I hand-sewed a plush chickadee.

Other random artwork I created include a craft foam mosaic, some abstract marker art, a clay ladybug, and a tribute to some band you may know. ;)

  

Daily Art Challenge - January: Watercolor painting spree

 So ends one whole month of painting or drawing every day (except for one day, but I made up for it by making two pieces the next day)! Now over thirty new pieces of art are taking up more space in my room. :P None are exceptional pieces (I need more time for those!), but I had fun exploring different styles and mediums. Will I keep going? I'll have to think about that. I only have one day to decide, though!
 
 I began my Daily Art Challenge with a medium I hadn't used since I was a small child - watercolors. As you can probably tell from the photo below, I had so much fun with them I kept taking my ancient set of pan watercolors back out to paint some more. I really enjoyed learning how watercolors behave and figuring out the best ways to use them. I also liked that I could paint these small studies fairly quickly and with very few supplies so I could even paint while I was at the computer. 👍
  

I now have a new appreciation for watercolor artists and their art. I definitely would like to play with this medium some more.

 

When I felt like I should change mediums, I hid my watercolors from myself and usually went back to pencil, pen and ink, or acrylics. The time limit gave me an excuse to practice working in a looser style, which is usually a lot more fun, especially when using acrylics.
Below are the acrylic paintings and a pencil drawing I created during this challenge. Not shown here are my embarrassing sketches, other not-so-embarrassing sketches, and a couple digital art projects (I like the Microsoft brand of Paint too!).

Daily Art Challenge - Day 20: Mini painting of Blue Jay

This is the smallest painting on canvas I've ever done! The canvas measures almost 3" X 3". Sorry about the recent terribly dark photos. The sun needs to come out! Or maybe I just need better lamps...

A.J. here is trying to look like he painted it... The brush I used was even thinner than the one he's holding.

Daily Art Challenge - Day 18: Painterly portrait of Baxter

I've done very few paintings of my Boxer, Baxter, so I thought I'd paint a black and white portrait of this old guy for my Daily Art Challenge.

Baxter is 13 1/2 years old now. He has outlived two of my goats, one of my other dogs, and many of my smaller pets.

Daily Art Challenge - Day 5: Painterly Monarch

At the very beginning of this year I decided to challenge myself to create one piece of art a day. I did not specify how long I was supposed to keep creating, though, so I guess it's not much of a challenge...
Anyway, I have created seven pieces so far, mostly terrible sketches, but a few pieces I put more effort into turned out okay.

Here is the piece (for Day 5) I put the most effort into. It's a 12" X 12" acrylic painting of a Monarch butterfly on Joe-Pye weed. I had a lot of fun painting in this loose style.

  Look for a video of me painting this piece in the coming days!